


Afterimage

by Wonko



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Episode Related, Episode: s05e11 Latent Image, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-27 03:14:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19782100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wonko/pseuds/Wonko
Summary: Set immediately after the end of season 5 episode 11: Latent Image. After leaving the Doctor, Janeway heads back to her quarters where she finds an unexpected guest.





	Afterimage

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [sapphicstartrek](https://sapphicstartrek.tumblr.com) fanwork exchange for [czterysta](https://czterysta.tumblr.com).

The trudge from the Holodeck to the Captain’s quarters on deck two had never seemed so long to Janeway as it did tonight. Nursing a fever, bone-weary and - worst of all - troubled, the few decks she had to travel between might as well be in different quadrants.

How could she have got it so wrong? Where was her much vaunted morality, the humanity she had been so sure she was modelling to Seven until the other woman had barged into her quarters and pierced that assumption with just a few well chosen words? Certainly as Captain, she was responsible for the well-being and safety of everyone on the ship - did that mean making their decisions for them too? In the Alpha Quadrant - hours at most away from help and backup - she was sure her answer would have been no. But here? She was the highest Starfleet authority for tens of thousands of light years, but had she been abusing that position?

She thought of the Doctor, his burgeoning sentience ignored the moment it became inconvenient. Poor Ahni Jetal, whose records they had sealed in an effort to cover up the deception, her friends ordered never to speak of her in public. Was that in any way a reasonable thing for her to have expected of them? And just a couple of months ago, B’Elanna’s perfectly valid moral objections to medical treatment based on the research of a war criminal had been ignored on her order. 

“Who do you think you are?” she murmured as the doors to her quarters slid closed behind her.

She certainly hadn’t been expecting a response, so when a familiar voice replied, “Captain?” she nearly jumped out of her skin.

“Seven!” Janeway gasped, her hand over her thudding heart. “What are you doing here? How did you get in?”

Seven hesitated. She was crouching down in front of Janeway’s replicator, a tricorder in one hand and a hyperspanner in the other, clearly in the middle of working deep in the guts of the machine. “I apologise, Captain,” she said. “I overrode the lock. I anticipated you would be in the Holodeck for several more hours.”

Janeway shook her head, turning away from Seven and stretching her aching back muscles. “I should be angry, but I’m much too tired. What are you doing?”

Seven returned to her work while Janeway slumped onto her chaise longue, rubbing her gritty eyes with one hand. “You mentioned your replicator is failing to store your temperature preferences. You attributed this to some kind of intransigence on the machine’s part. I considered it more likely that it was simply malfunctioning.”

“It does occasionally provide me with a burnt pot roast,” Janeway admitted, relaxing slightly as she leaned back. “You do know it’s not actually okay to let yourself into people’s quarters? Just for my peace of mind.”

Seven frowned slightly, but continued to work. “I understand the social convention,” she said. “Theoretically.”

Janeway’s ears pricked up. “Theoretically?” she asked, her eyes flickering open. “Is this going to be another philosophical discussion?”

Seven shook her head. “No,” she said. “I am merely stating a fact. I understand privacy; I have simply never experienced it.” A chirp emitted from the tricorder, and a small smile ghosted over Seven’s lips. “There is a damaged memory chip in the fourth materialisation circuit,” she announced, then dug around in an engineering kit on the floor for a replacement. Within fifteen seconds she was rising and replacing the fascia of the replicator. “Coffee,” she instructed the machine. “Using Captain Janeway’s stored preferences.”

The hum of the materialisation process lasted for just a few seconds, and then Seven was carrying a cup of steaming brown liquid over and handing it to her. Janeway took it and sipped gingerly. “It’s perfect,” she said. “Exactly how I like it.” She looked up at Seven, noting the barely concealed pride on the other woman’s face and feeling her heart ache. “I’ve made so many mistakes with you, haven’t I?”

Seven’s expression faltered. “Captain?”

Janeway sighed, setting the cup down on the table and sitting up, swinging her legs round so her feet touched the deck. Her shoulders slumped slightly as she ran her hands over her face. “You said it yourself,” she offered. “I allowed you to think of me as your guide, your role model. But I really haven’t lived up to that at all, have I?” She ran her fingers through her hair and stood, beginning to pace back and forth in front of the window. “I’m rigid. I always think I’m right. I think I know what’s best for everyone else. What sort of example is that?”

Seven hesitated. “The example of a starship Captain,” she said at last.

Janeway laughed. “Exactly,” she replied. “Exactly my point.”

Confusion was etched on Seven’s face. “I do not understand.”

Janeway stopped pacing and turned to face her. “No?” she said. “Are you saying I’ve treated you as I should?” She covered her face with her hands. “Seven, you’ve been on this ship for almost two years and you live in the cargo bay like a piece of equipment. There’s nowhere on this ship you can go that other people aren’t allowed to be. No wonder you only understand privacy theoretically.”

Sighing, the Captain thought back to just a few nights ago, when she’d let herself into the cargo bay and even halted Seven’s regeneration cycle. Would she have done that with any other crew member? Her face flushed as she realised she had essentially let herself into Seven’s bedroom and shook her awake for a chat to salve her own conscience. “I’ve expected so much of you,” she murmured. “And you’ve risen to every challenge. You’ve become a remarkable person, Seven. But it’s not  _ because _ of me. It’s  _ in spite _ of me.”

The stars behind her suddenly elongated as the ship slipped into warp. Janeway turned to watch, the mental map she kept of her ship’s location updating as she realised they must have negotiated the star system through which they had been travelling for the past few hours. Preoccupied, she almost jumped when she felt Seven’s hand come to rest gently on her shoulder.

“You are too hard on yourself, Captain,” the younger woman said, gently but firmly.

Janeway half turned her head. “Am I?”

Seven nodded. “Yes,” she said. “You are the Captain. It is in your nature to take on responsibility for everything on your ship, but you go too far. I have never requested alternative living arrangements. In fact, until very recently, the idea of being alone in crew quarters would have been profoundly unsettling. I was simply not ready for that step.”

Janeway turned fully, regretting the loss of Seven’s hand as it slipped from her shoulder. “And now?”

Seven smiled one of her tiny, enigmatic smiles. “I believe I am ready now,” she said. “I shall make a request to Commander Chakotay.”

Janeway nodded, exhaustion creeping up on her again. “Good.”

“And when I have my own quarters,” Seven continued, “I would like you to have dinner with me there.”

Janeway nodded. “Good idea,” she said. “It’s about time I started interacting with you as a friend, isn’t it? God knows you’ve been a good one to me these past few days.” She smiled. “Only my friends call me on my mistakes. You’re part of a very select group, you know.”

Seven ducked her head. “I am...gratified to hear that, Captain, but I must clarify. I am not inviting you as a friend.”

Janeway frowned. “No?” she said. “Then what…” She trailed off as realisation dawned. Her eyes widened. “Oh. Oh, I see.” She looked away, her heart beginning to race. “Is that a good idea?”

Seven reached out, trailing her fingers over Janeway’s cheek and applying gentle pressure until the Captain met her gaze again. “You must answer that question for yourself,” she said. “But please base your answer on yourself alone. Do not consider what is right or best for me. I have already made that decision for myself.”

Janeway swallowed hard, her automatic response dying in her throat as she realised that was exactly what she had been about to do. In fact, her mind had been so focused on why Seven shouldn’t be making this choice that she had barely considered what she wanted herself. It didn’t take long to decide.

“Let me know the day and time,” she said, her voice rough with tiredness and emotion. “I’ll be there.”

Seven smiled, slow and beautiful. “Good,” she said, then leaned forward, cupping Janeway’s face with one hand. “Goodnight, Captain,” she breathed, then pressed her lips softly and briefly to Janeway’s cheek.

Janeway couldn’t help but trail her fingers over the burning spot where Seven’s lips had touched. “Goodnight,” she murmured as the doors to her quarters slid closed. She blinked once, then twice, her mind racing as fast as her heart. And then she smiled.


End file.
